1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a content display device in which rather than using a special device such as a personal computer for information provided on the Internet, text information of a WEB content is made displayable on a telephone terminal under the control of a main device, and the present invention relates also to a content display method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, in private exchange systems used by a service provider, telephone receivers are provided, as telephone terminals (extension terminals), to a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) or a main device. The telephone terminal and an external communication network, such as a public network, and the telephone terminals are switched and connected with each other by the PBX or the main device so as to enable communication therebetween. In this type of system, a telephone receiver provided with a liquid crystal display (LCD) as a display unit for displaying a call destination or a call source is used as a telephone terminal.
In such a private exchange system, the information displayed on the display unit of the telephone terminal is mainly that which is unique in the system such as information about telephone numbers, times, and operation states of a call destination and a call source. In other words, such information is not inherently that which is obtained from outside by accessing a homepage, etc., on the Internet.
As a result, Patent Document 1 proposes a digital exchange device in which real-time information provided from an information providing server on the Internet is designed to be displayed on a display unit (LCD) of a telephone terminal and also an information providing system.
This digital exchange device is that which accommodates a telephone terminal having a display unit and is connected via a predetermined communication network to a server device for providing predetermined real-time information. The digital exchange device includes the following configuration of:
acquisition-request sending-out means for periodically sending out an acquisition request for real-time information to the server device via the communication network;
real-time information receiving means for receiving the real-time information sent from the server device via the communication network in response to sending-out of the acquisition request;
format-converting means for converting the real-time information received by the real-time information receiving means into a format usable in a telephone terminal;
real-time information storing means for storing the real-time information converted by the format-converting means; and
real-time information displaying means for sending out the real-time information stored by the real-time information storing means to the telephone terminal so as to be displayed on a display unit.
According to the aforementioned configuration, the real-time information provided from the server device will be automatically acquired via the communication network by periodically sending out the acquisition request to the server device. The real-time information is converted into a format displayable on the telephone terminal and accumulated in a memory of the digital exchange device. The real-time information accumulated in the memory is transmitted to the telephone terminal and displayed on the display unit.
Therefore, a user requires no operation for accessing the server device on the communication network and is able to acquire in a timely manner the real-time information provided by the server device at all times. The real-time information incoming from the server device via the communication network is converted into a format for the telephone terminal, and then, sent out to the telephone terminal. Thus, a processing load of the telephone terminal can be kept low and a new communication infrastructure does not need to be constructed for acquiring the real-time information, thereby implementing the system at a low cost.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2003-70036
However, according to the aforementioned device, the user requires no operation for accessing the server device on the communication network and is able to acquire in a timely manner the real-time information provided by the server device at all times, whereas there is a problem that the user is not able to select various kinds of information that the user wishes to obtain because it is not configured so as to acquire the information needed by the user at a time needed by the user.
That is, there is desired a system in which improvement and convenience of operability are secured at the time of browsing information when acquiring necessary information selected by the user from an information providing server on the Internet as in a case of a data communication system using a personal computer with a simple configuration not needing a personal computer.